Doubts over Iraq links to al-Qaeda

Western intelligence officials doubt the significance of documents showing Saddam Hussein's regime met an al-Qaeda envoy in Baghdad in 1998 and tried to arrange a meeting with Osama bin Laden.

"We are aware of fleeting contacts (between Baghdad and al-Qaeda) in the past, but there were were no long-term official contacts," a well-placed source said. "The documents do not take things further forward."

British intelligence agencies have persistently dismissed attempts by White House hawks to link Saddam to al-Qaeda, a link that would help London and Washington to argue Iraq had posed an imminent threat.

According to the documents an envoy from al-Qaeda went to Baghdad in March 1998. Intelligence officials say there was little love lost between bin Laden, an Islamist fundamentalist, and Saddam's secular regime.